Deception, Disgrace
by OfTheFlamingHeart
Summary: Deceit has something important to tell the Bright Sides, but will they listen? Can he even get what he's trying to say out without falling back into the pattern they've been in since he first grew scales?
1. The Truth Hurts

"You wanna tell me why you thought taking Patton's place was a good idea?" Virgil asked. While he usually hated confrontation with what passed for a passion in his mind, he couldn't countenance a slight so severe.

Deceit looked his former friend up and down. "Surely you don't expect me to answer truthfully?"

"No, but there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data." Anxiety left the rest to Deceit.

Deceit rolled his eyes and turned his snake side away. "Fine. I had better things to do, you know."

"Liar," Anxiety deadpanned.

"Already devolving to name-calling? And I once thought so highly of you," Deceit cooed.

Virgil looked around, not that there was much to see. Dark curtains hung around them, obscuring photos and paintings on the walls behind them. Occasionally, the curtains would billow and the images would flash. Thomas in pain. Thomas crying. Stern faces.

"Why does your room have to be so creepy?" Virgil asked.

Deceit folded his arms defensively. "Oh yeah, and your room is just the pinnacle of warmth. What with the spiderwebs and spider curtains, and all that Hot Topic garbage."

"Whatever. Patton. I'm warning you now, Dee, leave him alone," Virgil said, pointing a finger at the bowler-hat wearing villain.

"I enjoy our little chats." Deceit turned around, summoning a tea tray. "Care for a drink?"

Virgil narrowed his eyes, instantly suspicious. "If you drank anything other than something sickeningly sweet, I might take you up on that. Honestly, you're worse than Patton when it comes to sweets. And he would at least have cookies."

Deceit set the tray down and lifted a cup and saucer. Taking a sip, he grinned. "Is that why you joined the Sappy Sides? For the cookies?"

"Those saps are at least honest." Virgil countered.

Deceit set the cup and saucer down a little harder than necessary. His look was full of contempt. "And what has honesty ever done but cause misery?"

"That's all you got?" Virgil asked, turning away.

"At least I'm happy doing what I do. Can you say the same? No, of course not. Anxiety is misery." Deceit taunted.

Virgil turned half-back, smiling. "The fact you can even say that means it's not true."

"You think I can't tell the truth if I want to?" Deceit took a step forward. "Thomas used to wet the bed."

A curtain fluttered open to reveal a young Thomas with wet pajamas, looking away as his mother they both stood next to his wet bed. The painting came to life, and little Thomas spoke. "I didn't! I just spilled my glass of water!"

"Kids wet the bed. Lying about it was stupid. His mom wasn't even mad." Anxiety replied.

Deceit took another step forward, his foot dragging along the carpet. "Thomas got sick at a party and blamed the dog."

Another curtain blew aside to reveal the scene in question.

Anxiety looked away from that one. "That was really bad. He had a chocolate muffin and so they took the dog to the vet to make sure it would be alright. If he'd just owned up to it, he would have saved them that vet bill. Lying definitely made that worse."

Deceit took another step, wincing as his foot made contact with the floor. He stood in Anxiety's space, his face contorted in pain. "You used to be my friend."

A curtain blew aside to reveal younger versions of Virgil and Dee. Dee's arm wrapped around Virgil's shoulders as a smile grew on Virgil's face. Dee keeping Virgil on his 'good' side to not gross him out with the scales.

Deceit looked triumphant for a split second as Virgil realized how much pain Dee was in. Then he crumpled to the ground, knees giving out as the painful truths sank into every fiber of his being like millions of tiny knives.

Anxiety wanted to believe it was all theatrics. But then he knew the one thing that hurt Deceit most was Deceit himself telling the truth. He'd been too distracted by those truths to see what Deceit was doing to himself.

Angry as much at himself as he was Deceit, Virgil knelt beside Dee. "Hey, tell some lies. Say something untrue, you idiot. It's the only way you'll feel better."

Deceit whispered something, and stirred a bit.

Nudging Dee's chest, Virge's eyes got misty for a moment. "Dee! Say something false."

"I hate you." Deceit said, the color returning to both sides of his face. "I don't care what happens to you. You don't care about me!" Deceit flinched, obviously expecting to get hurt again.

But the words hung between them. A lie. One that gave hope to one and reminded the other that he did care. Not just about Thomas and the 'Bright Sides.' He cared about this side too. The side that would say anything to make Thomas feel better. No matter how outlandish the lie.

"You're almost as much of a defense mechanism as I am." Virgil noted as Dee sat up.

Deceit looked away, his scaled side facing Virgil. "You don't care about me."

"In the words of Logan. 'Falsehood.'" Virgil replied.


	2. Logical Lies

"You really shouldn't just enter a room without knocking. It's rude," Logan admonished, turning to see Deceit. From his black bowler hat to his half-scaly face to his yellow gloves, there wasn't a single thing about the Dark Side that Logan liked.

"I'm sorry for intruding," Deceit began in his simpering tone.

Logan held a hand up. "I'm not Roman. I won't believe anything you say."

"Well, where's the logic in that?" Deceit said with a sigh. "If you can't believe anything I say, surely you can believe the opposite and neither of us would be inconvenienced."

Logan resisted a growl. "Your very presence is an inconvenience."

"Now who's being rude?" Deceit asked sulkily.

"Quit your pouting. And whatever you want, I won't agree to it. So just go." Logan turned around and looked back at his notes.

"You don't know what's coming, what the other Dark Sides are planning for you. For Thomas." Deceit hovered over Logan's ear, his snake side almost touching cheek-to-cheek. Logan shuddered as Deceit hissed the 's' at the end of Thomas.

Logan turned around and gently pushed the deceiver back a step. "Personal space, okay? And I might not know which of you Dark Sides will strike next, but I know all of you. And I'll be prepared for it."

"Will you?" Deceit taunted.

"And what, you're offering to help us out? Out of the goodness of your scaly heart?" Logan scoffed.

"What if I said I don't want the other Dark Sides to win?" Deceit asked.

"I would believe that you do want them to win," Logan said.

"I do want them to win," Deceit said.

Logan rolled his eyes. "That's what I thought! Wait..."

"What? Didn't you hear me?" Deceit said, crossly.

Logan stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not that you can't tell the truth. This isn't like the riddle of the liar and the honest man. So even if you say you do want them to win, you could still be telling the truth!"

Deceit looked upward and sighed. "The truth is what you believe."

Logan started pacing, running data and relevant experiences through his head. "You want Thomas to lie."

"I want Thomas to express his own truth. If he has to deny certain facts or create a more compelling narrative so be it," Dee explained. The admission was close enough to the truth as to make Deceit uncomfortable.

Logan racked his brain. "The truth! You avoid it because it's unpleasant."

"The truth is what you make of it." Dee looked away.

Logan turned to face the Dark Side. "But if you want to tell me the truth and be believed, you would have to tell the truth. What color is the sky?"

"Green," Deceit said automatically.

Logan put up a finger triumphantly. "See! You don't want me to believe you."

"I want you to believe me!" Dee said, flinching as he spoke the truth.

"See! You admit it...wait." Logan examined Deceit's face. "What color is the sky?"

Through gritted teeth, Deceit said, "The sky is blue."

"What is Thomas' most embarrassing moment?" Logan asked.

Sighing, Deceit braced himself. "Peeing his pants at his school choir recital." Immediately after, he flinched again, sitting down at Logan's desk.

"When did you first grow scales?" Logan asked.

"One scale for each lie Thomas has ever told." Deceit clutched his chest as his breathing hitched. He shed a scale from his neck. It fell to the floor between the two personality facets.

"Does the truth hurt you?" Logan asked.

Deceit's expression hardened and his eyes were as angry as they were misty. "Some more than others," he replied, choking back as pain lanced through him.

"Are you really trying to help us?" Logan asked.

"No," Deceit said, sighing in relief as the lie made his pain more bearable.

Logan notes the reaction. Slower breathing, no flinch, Deceit's face beginning to relax.

"Why would you help us?" Logan asked.

"Better the devil you know," Deceit answered.

"You know the Dark Sides as well as I do. Thomas might have forgotten, but we were there as they all fell. Including you." Logan said.

Deceit stood up slowly. "I've always hated you."

"Falsehood. And we both know it." Logan's look turned smug.

"I don't know why I thought you would listen to me." Deceit turned to leave.

Logan weighed his options. Deceit would likely be much more of a liability than an asset. Even if the Dark Sides worked together, Logan believed them to be outmatched.

"Deceit, tell the other Dark Sides that Thomas won't give in to them. No matter how sweetly you try to persuade him. Just as he resisted your influence." Logan folded his arms across his chest defiantly.

Deceit turned around. "What makes you think they'll be as nice as I am?"

With that, Deceit vanished.


	3. Lies and Dolls

Roman set up a miniature sized proscenium stage and pulled a set of figures out from under his bed. As he set the stage, he hummed the melody to "Bushel and a Peck" absently. He didn't hear Deceit appear, nor even sense his presence.

"Oh Roman, you dashing prince! How we adore your creativity and worthwhile input. How do you manage to be so gosh-darn great?" Roman said in a nasally voice as he held one purple and black clad figure.

Roman moved the figure in white and red and spoke in a tone more resonant. "Oh, you know, I get asked that so much that by now I have a whole song to explain it. And ah-one and ah-two and—"

Deceit coughed loudly. Roman shot up, knocking the stage and figures under his bed desperately. Turning around, Roman's eyes went from wide to narrow. "What did you see?"

"Oh, don't worry your pretty head. I didn't see you playing with your dolls again," Deceit answered cheerily.

"Good!" Roman said as he kicked a blue-shirted figure beneath the bed with the others. "Sorry, Lo-lo."

"Well that's just adorable!" Deceit said.

"Don't condescend to me, you deceitful little flea," Roman rhymed. "I might be the prettiest prince in this place but I am smart enough to know you don't mean anything you say!"

Deceit strode forward and bent down to pick up a very small, yet fashionable pair of black Warby Parker's. "Then you don't want to hear what I have to say?"

"That's right!" Roman declared, taking the small glasses away from the Dark Side. "You came in unannounced and uncalled-for. That's just rude, even for a snake like you."

Deceit stepped back and folded his arms. "Dragon, dragon! I don't do that tongue thing!" He punctuated the end of the sentence by sticking his tongue out and hissing.

Roman huffed. "You aren't going to get on my good side by quoting Mulan at me! And don't even try to compare yourself with Mushu."

"I would have to try hard. Mushu helps Mulan live a lie, after all. And she ended up saving a nation by telling that lie." Deceit sat on the end of Roman's bed and twirled a cane in his hand.

Roman rolled his eyes. "She was trying to save her father's life in the only way she could thanks to how her society worked! You want Thomas to lie just for himself."

Upon closer inspection, Roman recognized the cane. It looked just like Lucius Malfoy's snake-topped wand/cane. Noting his interest, Deceit separated wand from cane. "The Malfoy's lied for themselves all the time. Lucius did it to avoid jail and keep his family together. Draco did to avoid causing the death of the last hope of the wizarding world in his own home. And Narcissa lied to Voldemort, saving Harry in the forest and giving her a chance to find her son alive. One can lie for themselves and still help others."

"I won't entertain slippery slopes any more than I would entertain you in my room. Leave, snake face," Roman demanded.

Inserting the wand back into the cane, Deceit stood up. "Harry Potter had to count on lies several times in the face of a greater evil. Perhaps taking his example now would be as beneficial to you."

"How can I trust anything you say?" Roman asked, spreading his arms wide. "You can mix truth and lies into a half-truth, half-lie homunculus!"

"What's better? A villain you know you can defeat, or a bunch of villains that you haven't had to face before?" Dee asked, spotting a picture on the wall.

"Logan, Patton, Virgil, and I can stand against the Dark Sides. Thomas won't fall victim to their schemes. He sure didn't fall for yours," Roman noted mockingly.

Deceit reached out and touched the image on the wall with one yellow clad hand. "I wouldn't have expected this on Patton's wall. It belongs here. Why do you have it?"

Taking a second to untwist the words, Roman looked at the photo and realized why Deceit was upset. "Patton loaned it to me. After we saw you. Do you remember when we made this?"

"No," Deceit replied sullenly.

"You were the penultimate Dark Side," Roman remarked. "We trusted you once. We trusted all of you to do your part to help Thomas. When the Dark Sides betrayed us and Thomas locked you away in his subconscious, Patton was distraught for weeks. This picture of us. He held onto it in the foolish hope that one day all of you would come back. But that's never going to happen. We aren't little Blank Sides anymore. We've grown up."

"The Dark Sides are very happy with me. They're going to leave Thomas to me to corrupt. You won't stand a chance," Deceit declared as he turned around.

Roman set a hand on the shoulder of Deceit's human-faced left side. "I know you've spoken with Virgil and Logan. I know you think you're trying to help. To warn us. But we don't need help like you. Worry all you want, but even Anxiety itself is determined not to let the Dark Sides win."

"You won't win without me!" Deceit yelled.

As both facets realized Deceit hadn't been harmed by that statement, Roman smiled. "Now we both know that's not true."


	4. Sweet Lies

Baking in his room always gave him the warm and fuzzies. Then again, his room also gave him the warm and fuzzies. Detritus from every corner of Thomas's memories found a home on his shelves, tucked away in his cupboards, and sometimes stacked haphazardly on an end table. The changing picture frame brought up new old memories every time he turned his eyes on it. Removing a tray of chocolate chip cookies, Patton let the smell waft up.

Sighing contentedly, Patton leaned over and looked for the second best cookie. If he had the best one first, he figured his enjoyment would only go down. Not that it actually would be noticeable, considering how good cookies made him feel. But even so, there was comfort in the ritual of selecting the best cookie and saving it for last. His hand hovered for a moment before he willed himself to wait until the cookie firmed up a bit.

To ease his cookie hankering, Patton went to the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. It was just as he liked it, nearly icy cold. A perfect complement to a warm, ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookie. He poured himself a glass and set the gallon back in the fridge. He turned back and saw the best cookie had disappeared.

"Oh, now come on! I would have shared if you'd asked, Deceit," Patton scolded lightly.

Popping up from behind the counter, Deceit held half a cookie in one yellow-gloved hand. "You know I love asking permission."

"Virgil wouldn't be happy that you're here," Patton observed, picking up his third best cookie and setting it back down again. Deceit had gloves, but Patton's bare hand couldn't quite handle the heat of the fresh baked treat.

"What Virgil doesn't know won't hurt him," Deceit said with a shrug. He took a bite and winced.

Patton smiled and pushed the milk towards the serpent-sided Dark Side. "Go on, you've probably burnt your tongue on that."

Deceit took the glass and sipped. "I have not," he said, somewhat petulantly.

Patton rolled his eyes and turned around to get another glass of milk. "What brings you to my neck of the woods, kiddo? I hope it isn't the same thing you tried to tell Roman and Logan."

As Patton turned back around, he found his second best cookie had disappeared. A very similar-looking three-fourths of a cookie was now in Deceit's hand. Patton pursed his lips together for a moment, but looked up at the pleasure in Deceit's eyes. Setting himself down on a stool across from the Dark Side, Patton broke a piece off of his cookie and ate it, licking the gooey bit of chocolate that nearly burned his fingers. Looking back at the tray he weighed his options and mentally selected his next cookie.

"These taste horrible, by the way," Deceit said.

Patton smiled brighter. "Thank you. I tried something new with melted butter. It made for a more uniformly cooked cookie."

"Interesting," Deceit said, turning his good side towards his host.

"Well, baking isn't something everyone enjoys. But you seem to be enjoying yourself with what I made, and that's a high compliment to me." Patton finished his first cookie and selected another. He'd earned a second cookie, he decided.

Deceit folded his arms across his chest. "You don't know why I'm here."

Patton took a sip of milk and sighed. Getting up, he came around the counter and put his arm on Deceit's left shoulder. Looking directly into the snake eye, Patton spoke. "We're not afraid of the Dark Sides, Dee."

Deceit rolled his eyes and huffed. "You shouldn't be." Shrugging off Patton's hand, he turned so his human side faced the fatherly figure. "You don't know what they want. Now that Thomas has seen me and heard me, they don't want the same. They haven't been kept away, hiding as Thomas refuses to face them."

Patton walked around to face the snake side. "You are part of Thomas. As much as I or any of the others. Just because Thomas chooses to look on the bright side, it doesn't make you any less important. It doesn't mean any of his darker impulses go unexpressed."

Deceit smiled, shaking his head. "Blur the line between truth and lies all you want. We are just Thomas's dark impulses. We aren't the personification of that darkness. Thomas didn't give us forms and personalities."

Patton stepped away, picking up a photo album from a nearby shelf. "I didn't forget. I remember where we came from."

He set the album down on the counter and opened it. "I created these photos from my memories. You've seen one already. The one before you betrayed us."

"Betrayal is such a strong word," Deceit remarked. "Isn't forgiveness part of Thomas's morality?"

Patton looked up from the photos. "If it was just me, I would absolutely forgive you. But forgiving doesn't mean forgetting. And it definitely doesn't mean letting someone fully back into your life who hurt you and people you love. And even if I forgive you, you still have the others to ask. And I won't make them do anything they don't want to do."

Deceit raised a hand to his face and looked down at the photos. With his other hand, he pointed to one that caught his eye. "Look at us, laughing together. We weren't friends. Back before Thomas gave us our personalities. Yours wasn't first."

In a reverie, Patton touched the picture. "The kind of father that Thomas wanted to be. Still silly and fun, but also fair."

"And what did he make me? A snake faced cartoon-level villain," Deceit said.

Patton looked Deceit full on in the face. "That's not how I remember it. And, given that you haven't flinched from the effects of telling a personal truth, you don't think that's true either. You might want to believe that Thomas made you everything that you are, but you had some choices too. And you chose wrong."

"This is like you," Deceit said, eyes narrowing. "What is going on?"

Patton sighed and snapped his fingers, changing into a different set of clothes entirely. A set that Deceit knew was, "Logan," Deceit said, "I knew it was you the whole time. You could have anticipated that I would come to Patton's room!"

Logan shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "As a matter of fact, I didn't. Virgil did. After you visited Roman and I, he knew that you would keep trying to slip your way in. So we took a play out of your book and made an imposter."

Deceit stepped into Logan's personal space. "I want to speak to Patton!"

Just to the side of them, Patton popped up, then sat on the counter. "Logan, did you really have to make the cookies all so, same-y? Cookies should be like snowflakes, no two quite the same."

Logan groaned. "Patton, you weren't supposed to come out until he was gone!"

Patton shrugged, picking up a cookie and inhaling slowly. "I wanted a cookie before they all got cold."

Roman popped up and cleared a spot on the couch. "I told you we should have had me take Patton's place. I'm an experienced, well-trained actor."

"Who still plays with dolls," Virgil remarked as he popped in by the door.

"You said you didn't see them!" Roman shrieked.

Logan clicked his tongue. "Can we get back to the snake in the room?"

"I'm not a snake!" Deceit hissed, before flinching.

"No, you're not a snake," Patton said, drawing attention back to himself as he spoke around a mouth full of cookie.

"Patton, you shouldn't speak with your mouth full," Logan said.

Swallowing, Patton took a sip of milk from Deceit's glass. "Now who's acting like a papa?"

"The same deceiver who hasn't been acting like you since I came in!" Deceit said accusingly.

Logan put his hands up. "You're one to talk about deceivers!"

Patton hopped off of the counter. "Look, Dee. You've spoken to everyone else in this room. You've given us your warning. What more do you think talking to me is going to do?"

Deceit turned to Patton. "Don't you think you'll need my help when the Dark Sides come?"

"I don't. And we both know why." Patton turned to pick the photo album up from the counter. Flipping a few pages, Patton settled on one that showed Dee, Virgil, Roman, Logan and himself all very much younger.

"You told Thomas to lie about getting his homework done. That lie kept him from going on a field trip with his class. And he sat through a lecture from his teacher and then his mother about the importance of doing his work and telling the truth. Thomas decided then to stop listening to you. But you wouldn't take a step back and wait. You tried to force him to listen to you. That broke the balance between all of us."

"You've never been ignored like I have," Deceit said.

Patton looked around the room. "That's the funny thing, kiddo. We all have. Thomas can be pretty good at not listening. But although we try and coax him into hearing us again, we don't force him to. Even Virgil will eventually step away once Thomas starts ignoring him."

"You would give Virgil another chance but not me?" Deceit asked. "We weren't very close."

Patton looked down and then around the room again before looking back at Deceit with tears in his eyes. "I would forgive you in a heartbeat, Dee."

"Patton!" The other sides cried out. Patton didn't break his line of sight but did hold up a hand.

"I said I would. But ultimately the person you have to convince isn't in this room." Patton turned around and walked back to the kitchen.

Deceit opened his mouth, then looked around and closed it. Walking towards the door, Deceit turned back and glared at the assembled Sides. "Thomas will never accept me as I am."

As Deceit dropped to one knee, his face showing the signs of strain, each Side took a step towards the villain. Deceit held a hand up and laughed. It was a heart-breakingly hollow sound. "That's the truth for you. It's never anything but painful."

With that, Deceit left once again.


	5. Deceit's Conceit

As soon as my eyes snapped open, I could feel something was off. It wasn't a vague feeling, like the occasional existential dread Anxiety treated me to. This feeling also wasn't like the "wrong side of the bed" feeling that happened every once in a while. This was a certainty. Part of me probably would call it inevitable.

I sat up and Deceit was at the foot of my bed. His green scales glistened in the late morning light. In his hands, his bowler hat twirled at the end of his fingers. Deceit's shoulders were slightly slouched, his expression unreadable and distant. This wasn't my mental image of the yellow-gloved villain.

I almost fell for it. As I cleared my throat and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, he stood. The Dark Side, as Roman called him, turned his normal side towards me. It never ceased to be disconcerting that my own face, even half of it, would be staring back at me with a completely different expression. This wasn't a mirror image reflecting back my own literal actions. Maybe this mirror reflected my metaphorical actions.

"What you're thinking right now? It's stupid; you should stop," Deceit said as he placed the bowler hat on his head.

"Why are you here? I haven't had one of you guys just slip out in the morning," I said, feeling strangely calm. "This should be freaking me out more."

Deceit waved a hand dismissively. "Anxiety isn't awake yet."

"If you said that, isn't it a lie?" I said, paradoxically more concerned that I wasn't more concerned.

"Would it be closer to say he is occupied? That's closer to the truth," Deceit offered with a shrug.

I stood up and reached for a pair of shorts. Slipping them on, I called for the other sides. "Patton? Roman? Logan?"

In the words of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum from Alice in Wonderland, 'but answer there came none.'

"What have you done to them?" I asked, demandingly.

"Aren't they still with you?" He asked, enigmatically. "Do you think I've done more than just ensure I could speak to you privately?"

I folded my arms across my chest and puffed my cheeks. Letting the air out slowly, I thought for a moment. "Fine. What do you want?"

"I don't want you to forgive me," Deceit said, turning his full face to me.

"Forgive you? For what? Where would I even start?" I asked. "And wouldn't you want me to...oh right you speak in lies. You do want me to forgive you."

"No," Deceit said.

"No you don't speak in lies or no you don't want me to forgive you?" I asked, confused. As he looked up at the ceiling with a pleading look, I realized my mistake. "Oh, you were agreeing with me. Why can't you just tell the truth?"

Deceit wiggled his eyebrows. "What does truth ever do but hurt?"

I thought about it for a moment. "So you speak in lies and questions. It's true statements that you can't say?"

"I can tell you that you are doing the best you can, that you are good enough, and that you get a healthy amount of fulfillment from your work," Deceit said, grinning.

"What? That's all not true?" I asked, horrified.

"Yes. You just believe it," Deceit said, shaking his head.

I put my hands on my forehead and turned around in a circle as I tried to process this. Facing back around, I pointed a finger. "No, I don't believe it. It's true but I don't believe it. That's why you're able to say it."

Deceit shrugged. "I can also speak the truth. Even the truth you believe." With that, he put a hand to his head and swayed for a moment. It was like telling the truth...

"Telling the truth literally hurts you," I stated.

"No," he replied, looking relieved and more steady.

I walked around the bed and scrutinized the Dark Side. "So that's how I know you're sincere. If it hurts you."

Deceit's face darkened. "Is that what you've decided then? Do you want me to hurt myself just to prove it to you?"

I snapped back, hit with that realization. "What? No! Obviously no! Please don't. Don't hurt yourself for me. I'd never ask anyone to do that."

Deceit turned away and headed out the door. I followed, curious and still apprehensive.

He looked at the pictures on my wall of my friends and I. Passing them, he made it down the stairs to the living room. He stopped and stood where Virgil did for a moment before continuing on. I followed him down and stopped on Virgil's landing as he stood in Logan's spot just to the right of the stairs.

"This would be easier if you remembered everything," Deceit admitted before flinching. I reached out, but he waved me off. "Were you too young? Maybe."

Speaking in vague questions didn't seem to heal him as quickly as a lie. He looked discomforted as he glanced at everything but me.

"What am I too young to remember?" I asked.

Rising up from the floor in his usual spot, Patton looked disapprovingly at Deceit. "Hiding Virgil's hoodie is a real low move, kiddo. That's not very nice and now he's cold."

I snorted. "That's what you did to Virgil? I was expecting something more...nefarious."

Deceit blustered a response. "Well, maybe if the grungey little black hole showered more than once a millennium, his hoodie would've been more safe."

Now both Patton and I were scowling. Deceit looked at both of us and sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, go give Virgil his hoodie," I ordered.

"All in good time. You still need to forgive me," Deceit replied, folding his arms.

"You haven't told me what I'm supposed to remember," I said. "And you haven't even said you're sorry."

"I'm not sorry," Deceit said.

I don't know what I expected. I certainly didn't want him to hurt himself just to apologize. "For what?" I asked.

"Thomas," Patton said softly. "Some things are better left in the past."

Deceit took a step toward him, then stopped and clenched his fists. "You said that I had to get his forgiveness." On the word 'his' Deceit pointed a finger at me.

Patton shook his head. "I didn't think you would go about it like this. And you're trying to force him to forgive you without explaining why. Real forgiveness can't be underhanded like that!"

This was a side of Patton I didn't often see. The dad jokes and cuteness were replaced with determination and resolve.

Roman popped up in his corner and pointed a sword at Deceit. "You will produce that hoodie or I shall make a new one from what is left of you!"

Patton and I made similarly grossed out noises. "Roman, buddy, nice that you're going to bat for Virge, but that's a bit much," I admonished.

Patton looked horrified and closed his eyes. "Ugh, mental image!"

"I didn't steal anything," Deceit said smoothly.

Roman turned to me, ignoring the lie. "Thomas, you're keeping Anxiety from popping up. And he has a few things he'd like to say."

"Oh sorry," I said, moving off the landing and into my normal spot by the couch. "But if he doesn't have his hoodie, what is he..."

Virgil appeared, wearing Logan's unicorn onesie. "Just, don't," he ordered, as Patton clapped his hands over his mouth and I tried hard to not laugh. "Dee, hoodie. Now."

"It's not in the dryer. It totally didn't need that cleaning," Deceit purred.

"That is literally the only place I haven't looked. Which dryer?" Anxiety asked.

I interrupted, "I only have the one."

The four sides turned to me. "Oh, this is just like how each of your rooms looks like my living room. Fair enough. Sorry for interrupting."

Deceit turned back to Virgil. "Not Logic's."

Virgil narrowed his eyes, waiting for Deceit to react before he looked back to me. "Thomas, whatever this guy says, don't listen to him."

With that, Virgil vanished again. In his place, Logan popped up. "Why is the snake in my spot?"

"Could you be a little nicer to me?" Deceit asked.

"You don't care," Logan said dismissively.

Deceit shrugged. "You're right, I don't."

I looked at Patton, who sighed. "Logan, let's not use the 's' word just because Deceit is being a little devil. We're better that that."

Logan folded his arms irritably. "Fine, why is he in my spot?"

"Well it sure wasn't so I wouldn't have to have this conversation with you around," Deceit remarked.

Rolling his eyes, Logan turned to me. Pointing at Deceit, Logan spoke. "Thomas, you can dismiss this...character with enough willpower. Why haven't you told him to leave?"

I folded my arms. "What don't I remember about Deceit?"

"Kiddo, I'm not sure this would be good for you." Patton cautioned, putting his hands together in a prayer like manner. "You don't have to find out like this."

I shook my head. "There's no better time to learn about myself. Patton, tell me."

Patton closed his eyes, I could see them get misty. Keeping his eyes closed, Patton let the words out. "When you were in first grade, you told one of your first big lies about your homework. The lie cost you a field trip."

My brain tingled as I remembered. "Yeah, then I resolved to be as honest as possible without hurting someone else."

Logan shook his head and looked away. Deceit kept his eyes on me, but stayed quiet.

Patton continued. "You kept getting into more and more trouble and just when I'd given up hope that you'd ever listen to me again, Virgil figured out why."

"Virgil? How could Anxiety help with lying?" I asked.

"He...wasn't always Anxiety," Patton said slowly.

"What do you mean he wasn't always Anxiety?" I asked, bewildered.

"This is getting interesting," Deceit noted monotonously.

Logan looked at Deceit waspishly then sighed and turned back to me. "We should stop. Medical science stipulates that a patient with memory loss should be allowed to remember on their own without second-hand accounts. We could try to trigger these memories, but that will take time and patience and..."

Deceit snorted. "You kept lying after that first one. Wouldn't tell the truth for two weeks straight. And just when I had total control, Vigilance figured out my plans. He managed to make you spill the whole truth with help from Patton. You got in so much trouble that you banished me."

"And nOT TELLING HIM WHAT HAPPENED SO INDELICATELY!" Logan shouted as Deceit hit the floor.

My mind reeled and I had to sit on the couch behind me. "Why don't I remember this?"

Patton tried for a reassuring tone. "Kiddo, you were just a little kiddo back then. And a lot has happened since then. Deceit has been able to influence you, but until recently he couldn't show himself to you. You rejected him, and that part of yourself that loved and lived a lie."

Anxiety appeared, hoodie on and filling the room with a clean laundry smell. He knelt next to Deceit and poked him. "Dee man, tell a few lies. Are you shedding scales?"

"No," Came the muffled reply from under the cape.

"There's like three right next to you on the ground. Does you face shed often?" Virgil asked.

"Yes," Deceit moaned.

Virgil glanced around the room. "He's, uh, lying."

I stood back up and started pacing, desperately trying not to think about a two week lying spree. "You got me in trouble and then kept getting me in trouble until you were stopped? And who is Vigilance?"

Virgil's eyes widened and he looked around the room. Logan and Patton very carefully avoided his gaze. Standing up, Virgil looked at me and held up his arms in the T pose.

"What?" I asked, face scrunched in disbelief.

"Your facets grow and change over time, just like you. I went from a guardian angel of common sense to...well, this." Virgil said, indicating himself. "And I only have myself to blame. My warnings went from sensible to sensational. And I couldn't help myself. Every time I overreacted, I just got worse."

Logan stopped chewing his lip and piped up. "The human body's own immune system overreacts to certain things all the time. That is where allergies come from. We don't ascribe villainous qualities to sneezing and itchy eyes."

"Yeah, well anaphylactic shock isn't exactly well-thought-of either," Virgil pointed out.

Logan looked to me again. "We are parts of you. We act out the roles you give to us."

"Did someone say ACTING?" Roman yelled as he rose back up.

I stopped pacing. "Wait, does that mean...I made Virgil and Deceit villains?"

Roman took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. "Wow, there's a lot to unpack there."

Patton winced. "Long answer, 'yes' with an 'if.' Short answer, 'no' with a 'but.'"

"Heh, butt," Roman said eloquently. "Uh, side-note, is Deceit on the floor?"

"No," Deceit confirmed.

"Ah, may I ask why?" Roman pressed.

"It's oddly comfortable," Deceit replied.

Logan held a hand on his forehead and answered my question. "Subconsciously you can change us. It's harder to do consciously, you actually have to form different habits and change the way you think. Deceit is trying to force you into changing him."

"Was not!" Deceit said defensively as he sat up and crossed his legs. "I don't care what he thinks of me."

"Falsehood." Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil all said at once.

Snapping his head from one side to the other, Logan held a hand up. "That is my phrase, thank you very much!"

I looked down at Deceit. "Deceit, I'm not ready to see you differently. I don't know what we did together, what lies we told. It was so long ago it shouldn't matter, but that's the thing about emotions. They're irrational. Just give me time and space to work this out and maybe I can come to terms with what we've done. I've just suppressed this so hard for so long."

I trailed off as Deceit's eyes locked onto my own. "You can't even forgive yourself." As he winced, another scale peeled off and landed in his lap.

Eyes on the scale, I shrugged. "I guess that's true."


End file.
